Comments on: If not you, then who?

By: Damn Straight » Blog Archive » Not really an issue…until it is an issue.

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:39:13 +0000

[...] should not falter because of increased fear, or because of added scrutiny, or because the marginalized group includes gays and lesbians. I submit this resignation to honor my family, to honor my community, and to honor my lifetime [...]

By: David

David — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:35:16 +0000

The tradition of the Catholic Church has been that the informed conscience of the individual Catholic trumps the teaching authority of the church. But in this day and age when pro-choice Catholic politicians find themselves the subject of front-page debates concerning their right to partake of the Eucharist, it is no wonder that people feel the church has a “agree or shut up” policy.

By: ramona

ramona — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:21:41 +0000

I certainly get that whether or a not a priest agrees with the church’s position, he might need to “close the ranks” when speaking out in public. For all we know, a priest that stands publicly with the church might be a dissenter behind closed doors — I think employees of a lot of companies or organizations would act the same way.

However, IMO, they also have a responsibility to those to whom they are ministering, who may have questions or be seeking spiritual guidance, whether they are members of a church congregation, patients in a hospital, or students at a Catholic college. I’d like to see someone have the courage to say publicly what they might disagree with privately.

By: The Wild Reed

The Wild Reed — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:05:21 +0000

…her blogsite Damn Straight and the LGBT segment of this interview. It’s definitely worth taking a look at,…

By: David

David — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:06:18 +0000

I feel sorry for Catholic religious who are people of discernment and faith. On the one hand, they know that, as the hymn says, “there’s a wideness in God’s mercy… there’s a kindness in His justice…”. They know that God is bigger than the petty bigotries of his spokespeople. At the same time, they have taken oaths of loyalty and obedience to a hierarchy that is showing itself to be increasingly vindictive against those who call it on its hypocrisy.

We may expect religious leaders to be exceptionally courageous in the moral stands they take. But they, like all of us, fear reprisals. And, like all of us, those reprisals are often most threatening when they attack our livelihood or the core of our identity. For vowed religious and the ordained, the backlash against their speaking ‘truth to power’ would almost certainly attack both.

It is certainly ironic that the church itself would be the agent of repression when the Gospel should be one of liberation.

By: anne

anne — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:24:50 +0000

This is madness.

By: QToDo.com

QToDo.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:47:09 +0000

Catholic doctrine & GLBT issues: a Minneapolis priest’s conflict…

Abigail over at Damn Straight blog has transcribed a portion of yesterday’s Midmorning Show on MPR featuring Father Michael O’Connell, rector at St. Mary’s Basilica who is leaving to work in a parish in North Minneapolis. Host Kerri Miller a…